Lorain trash collection bills to change

Lorain's water and sewer bills went out this month with a new format and a letter explaining the city will collect money for trash pickup starting next year. Previously waste hauler Republic Services Inc. sent quarterly paper bills to Lorain residents.

The change to city billing will not cost more money, said Lorain Safety-Service Director Robert Fowler. However, it will improve the appearance of Lorain, he said.

"The benefit is, we have a cleaner, safer, healthier environment for people to live and play," Fowler said. "It's a health and safety matter that the city has decided to address with the cooperation of Republic. We can't have trash sitting out on the street forever."

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Many other communities do billing for trash pickup, Fowler said.

Lorain is the largest community in northeast Ohio in which Republic Services does individual residential billing, said Dave Kidder, area municipal services manager. Republic and its affiliated haulers serve about 18,000 individual residential account in the city, he said.

Residents get quarterly bills but if they fall behind by three months, Republic Services stops picking up the garbage, Kidder said. He added the company will work out payment plans with residents who explain they are having a tough time paying the bills.

However, Republic Services at times will stop collection for Lorainites who don't pay.

When that happens, City Hall gets calls from citizens complaining about the trash that accumulates, Fowler said.

Earlier this year residents' trash complaints were the top issue for the first three months when the administration of Mayor Chase Ritenauer took office, Fowler said.

City Hall still gets 20 to 30 calls a week about trash not being collected, he said.

"It wasn't because Republic didn't come out, it was because people didn't pay their bill," Fowler said.

When the city takes over billing, Republic Services will pick up all the refuse, then leave the money collection to the city, Kidder said. The city of Lorain then will pay for the residential hauling.

"Once the city takes over the billing, we are just going to pick up the trash as it's set out to the curb," and drivers don't have to carry a list of addresses to skip, Kidder said.

"So from the driver's standpoint, just go down the street and pick it up," he said.

That will eliminate trash piling up at houses where owners didn't pay, Fowler said.

If people don't pay the bill, the city will file a lien to assess the money, Fowler said.

The new billing won't cost more money for Lorain because the city already sends out monthly bills for water and sewer service, Fowler said.

The city also is not adding to the cost of the pickup, but fuel surcharges will vary. The bills also will be monthly, not quarterly, Fowler said.

The billing change will not affect commercial waste collection or residential collection for apartments that use on-site trash containers.

Lorain also is not starting to use the blue wheeled trash cans supplied by Republic Services, Fowler and Kidder said. That method, widely known as the cart system, is used in many other communities but has found opposition in Lorain.